The policy insists non-Muslim women to wear a head scarf, not a traditional hijab, and was installed in 1998 but dropped in 2010 by the former principal and board. It was reinstated at the start of this year with a verbal only order to staff.

Mr Emniyet, who started in his position at the college this year, said male teachers who breached the staff dress code - for example, by wearing shorts - would face the same three-strikes warning system as female teachers who did not adhere to the headscarf policy.

School board chairman Farouk Khan could not be contacted yesterday but the Independent Education Union and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said they were not aware of any change to the policy.

AFIC assistant secretary Keysar Trad said he had spoken with Mr Khan.

"We didn't get in to the discussion about the hijab ... it was more of a discussion about the disagreement with us on the policy," Mr Trad said. "We have our executive meeting on Saturday and I'm sure the matter will be raised there."